Women's Basketball

Penn State - Head Coach - Rene PortlandOpening statement:"That was a great game. We were really thrilled with this game. Obviously, Iowa fought very hard and did a great job, but I thought our kids worked very hard and did a great job too. We buckled down on defense when we needed to, and in the second half, we did a much better job rebounding the ball. We only gave them two offensive rebounds and going down the stretch we made some good decisions with the ball. The defense that had left us early came back at the end."

On Ashli Schwab:"Going down the stretch she did a great job. She ended up with 12 rebounds, eight offensive when we really needed them. She had her hands full and it is really difficult playing (Jamie) Cavey. There wasn't much we could do because Iowa is such a balanced team, but Schwab's rebounding was crucial, especially her offensive rebounding."

On the character of the team:"They didn't play their best and they know it. If you look in the first half, we spent the whole week talking about the end of other games. At Ohio State, we had a great performance from Jessica Teague, but not anyone else. I think the team realized it was `one and done' and would have been on a plane real quick if they didn't get it done. They are too good of a team to have that happen to them. They just needed to buckle down and play some defense."

Penn State - Guard - Tanisha WrightOn her frustrating night offensively:"It was extremely frustrating, but I can only laugh about it now. I'm happy we got the win. It was rough, but my teammates really came through and made some big shots and did some really nice things for us as far as getting rebounds, a stop or a steal. That really kept us alive down the stretch."

Penn State - Guard - Jess StromOn stepping up when the team was down:"When we were down by seven, we needed to step up our defense and we knew we needed a stop. Tanisha (Wright) and I were not shooting very well and we needed to get something out of our defense."

Iowa -Head Coach - Lisa BluderOpening statement:"If the game would have ended four minutes sooner, I would be a much happier person right now. Unfortunately we didn't come out on the winning side on this one. I am proud of our effort, and I am extremely proud of the toughness our kids showed out there. I thought they battled through a lot. We shot the ball well, but we didn't box out and gave up too many second chances. We turned the ball over too many times and that was a big difference in the game."

On Tanisha Wright:"She creates fear for everybody, and she is a great player. I think she is one of the best one-on-one players in the country. I thought we did a great job on her. Johanna (Solverson) did a great job guarding her. Tanisha definitely seemed frustrated out there."

On the offense unable to execute down the stretch:"Their press obviously slowed us down and made us more tentative."

Iowa - Center - Jamie CaveyOn an NCAA Bid:"It's out of our control right now and all we can do is work as hard as we can in practice. We just have to become a better team in the following weeks. We have to keep a positive outlook on everything."

On playing Penn State in the tournament:"I personally felt that I played horribly the first time we played Penn State, and I don't think our team played well as a whole. I think the entire team and myself took it upon ourselves to push ourselves and show them that we are an awesome team. I believe we are an good, and it just didn't end the way we wanted it to today."

Iowa - Guard - Crystal SmithOn Iowa's 17-3 run in the first half:"It all came down to defense. We wanted it really bad, and we knew we had to make a run because our shots weren't falling. It all started with the defense."